The Flames of Summer
by symbiotic
Summary: When you have pitching on your team, baseball becomes easy.  Can Naruto, a rookie on the Konoha Flames, and Sasuke, a veteran trying to move forward for his drug riddled past, bring the Konoha Flames to the glory they once possessed?


Chapter 1-Out from Under

* * *

><p>Naruto Uzumaki tied the shoe laces on his right cleat quickly. So quickly that it seemed almost absent minded with the speed that he was able to tie them. His body was full of adrenaline, his heart racing and his guts churning with excitement. Today Naruto was going to perform one of the greatest, most important acts of his young life. It was his first major league start for the Konohagakure Flames, not only his favorite team but the team that had drafted him four years ago in the first year players draft out of the orphanage high school that he went to in the fourth round. Four years of toiling around in the minor league farm system, from A ball to AAA ball, to the fall league, spring training, and a groin pull injury had all culminated in this July evening being his first major league start. His big league debut, only the greatest moment of his career. As he saw it, this was where all the hard work got proven, or became undone. Get farmed out or stay firmly planted on the major league roster. This was his time to shine.<p>

Trouble was, he forgot the most important piece of gear that he could possibly have when he walked out of the locker room.

"Hey rookie," Shikamaru yelled from the locker room. "You forgot something." Naruto looked down and noticed that his pitcher's glove was not in his hands, no where to be found. He felt the blood begin to rush to his face and start to sweat with nervous exasperation. He was so over-eager and anxious to make his first start he had left his own glove in the locker room. He hit himself in the face lightly, punishing himself for doing something so stupid. He retreated to the locker room and grabbed the glove from the bench. Nara Shikamaru, the lifelong six year veteran right hander of the Flames, walked out with the young phenom in tow.

"You seem excited," Shikamaru said. "Don't let it get to your head."

"Easy for you to say," Naruto said. "I can't screw this up. This is my time to prove that I'm more then just some damn minor league phenom. You and I both know that I'm the real deal."

"So why you so afraid then?" Shikamaru asked. The two continued to walk down the tunnel towards the visiting club's dugout on the other side of the field.

"Everyone else can think otherwise," Naruto said. "And if Ebisu thinks otherwise, if anybody up in the organization thinks otherwise, I'll get sent back to the minors."

"Trust me," Shikamaru said as they approached the dugout. "You just got to go out there and pitch. ." He walked up to the dugout and found himself a place to set his cap down. This way, he marked where he was going to sit to watch the game. "It may be a drag, but keep all that 'farmed out' shit in the dugout and not on the mound."

It was twilight in the Kirihagakure visitor's dugout, on a sunny day on the island nation of the Water Country. Today's matchup put the Flames up against the Kirihagakure Sharks, a team that was much feared in the Elemental League of the Elemental Baseball Association, or EBA for short. Their lineup contained several powerful bats that could put up lots of runs on a moments notice and could work pitch counts as good as any lineup in the league. To compound their power, they played in a so called "band box", a small ball park due to the small amount of space the club could build a modern ball-park on the island Water Country. With prevailing wins coming from the ocean helping to loft their balls higher into the air, their power bats could put up loads of runs in very short notice. On this slightly cloudy night, as the sun set over the beach near the ballpark, this was where Naruto would make his first major league start.

Shikamaru and him got out of the dug out and Naruto began to do some stretches. Shikamaru stood on and watched, not needing to stretch since he had made his start three days ago and still had two more days of rest before he went out to start again. Under Ebisu's orders, he would not throw at all in that time period. Nonetheless, he agreed to help Naruto out with his pre-game preparation. He followed Naruto out to the outfield to do high knees, where catcher Chouji Akimichi was getting on his catching gear and doing some stretches himself.

"Good to see you Shikamaru," the rotund backstop said. "And you to rookie." He said rookie with a slight amount of disdain that ticked Naruto off.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto said. He put out his hand as a polite gesture. It was not returned. Shikamaru gave Naruto a slight nudging look with his eyes, to which Naruto quickly bowed his head. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's an honor to get caught by the best catcher in the game Akimichi-san."

"I like to think that I am," Chouji said as he strapped on shin guards and stood up. "So let me ask right now, what kind of stuff you throwing tonight? I don't need to know speed just your repertoire since you only got to throw with the practice catcher."

"Well I'm a four pitch pitcher," Naruto began. "I got a four seamer, a cutter, a three finger change, and a screwball that I like to use for strikeouts. How's that sound?" Naruto saw Chouji do sort of a double-take kind of twitch with his face, but then saw the catcher regain his composure slightly.

"You throw a screwball huh?" Chouji remarked. "I've never caught a screwball before. Hell, I don't think I've even seen a real screwball before. I got to see this." He crouched down into the catching position and put his batting helmet on backward. "Come on kid." He punched his mitt. "Show me the screwball."

Naruto took his position to throw the ball but Shikamaru put an arm in front of him to stop him. "Easy Chouji, can't fuck with Ebisu."

"Right," Chouji said. He stood up and went back a distance so he and Naruto could begin their long tosses to get his arm warmed up. "Does he really have a screwball?"

"Yeah I've seen it," Shikamaru said. He watched as Naruto hurled the ball over to Chouji, which the catcher caught with a loud "thwack" in his catcher's mitt. "It's legit."

Chouji threw the ball back and forth with Naruto several times, feeling the ball get faster and faster with each throw. Having been in the big leagues as long as Shikamaru, he could tell that Naruto was close to what one would call a power pitcher, feeling a slight sting in his glove when the ball hit. It was far from being painful, but it was a noticeable feeling that comes with guys who can throw the ball hard like this kid seemed to be able to. Chouji's instincts may not have had the accuracy of a major league scout's radar gun, but they were accurate enough to tell him Naruto could hit the upper nineties with his fastball. He guessed about 97 as a top speed, with the lower 90s with a range from probably 93 to 95 being his 'cruising speed' for his fastball. He would have to look at the scoreboard of Shark Stadium to figure out that exact speed later, but it was appreciative.

"Alright listen Uzumaki," Chouji said. He put up his pointer finger. "This is fastball." He put up his pointer and index finger. "This is cutter." He put up his pointer, index, and middle finger. "This is a changeup." He put up all four of his fingers. "This is a screwball. You understand?"

"Yeah I got it," Naruto said nodding quickly. Chouji then put up one finger and then another two fingers, showing Naruto what he wanted for a pitch inside and outside. Naruto nodded that he got it and the three then walked over to the field the dugout. While on the way, Shikamaru pulled Naruto aside to give him one final word of advice before they began to pitch.

"Whatever you do rookie," Shikamaru began. "If you want to win, do not shirk Chouji. You're not good enough for that."

"Right," Naruto said slowly. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious Naruto. You shirk him and you will lose," Shikamaru warned. "Don't shirk him."

"I understand Shikamaru-san," Naruto said forcefully. "Jeez." He then walked down into the dugout and grabbed handful of sunflower seeds along with a cup of lemon lime Gatorade. He shoved the seeds into his mouth, sucked on them, and then spat out the shells in one large heave which made a spray pattern resembling a shotgun blast. He then chugged down the Gatorade and sat down waiting for the game to start up and to get out on the mound.

* * *

><p>Over one hundred fifty miles away, back in the Fire Country city of Konohagakure, an old man was closing up his files and books for the day in the office of the Flame's home ball park. Flame Stadium was quiet tonight. No lines waited outside for blocks to get a ticket to go see the beloved Flames, the lights were not on, the grounds crew was not even out maintaining the field. All work inside the stadium was done by a staff of a few electricians and some janitors trying to keep the place clean for the next home-stand. The old man, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was just getting ready to leave the office. He had spent over twelve hours stuck in the building, in and out of one on one meetings with various advisers, legal council, and others employees of the Konohagakure Flames organization. Now the nearly eighty year old owner and CEO of the Flames he was finally ready to call it a night. But he would not leave without making sure his office was tidy, and he continued to clean up his disheveled desk until there was a knock on the door.<p>

"Who is it?" the old man asked through the door as he picked up his papers.

"It's me Dad," a voice on the other side said. "We're ready to go out to eat. Come on Kurenai and I can't wait forever."

"Well don't just stand out there," Hiruzen said. He slid some papers haphazardly into folders. "Come on in then." The door opened up and in stepped Sarutobi Asuma, Hiruzen's forty year old son and his thirty five year old wife, Yuhi Kurenai. Asuma smirked and chuckled when he saw his father picking up his papers off his desk so hastily. It was a sign to him that his father had had a long and very stressful day.

"Rough one today?" Asuma asked. He walked over to the desk with Kurenai in tow, but he made a slight gesture with his hand that told her to stay put and not worry about it. He began to put papers in his folder.

"Yeah," Hiruzen said. He put some more papers in the folder. "Been thinking about some things lately."

"Tell me about them later," he said. "Lets go eat." Hiruzen hesitated for a moment, holding onto a folder like he really needed to put it away but ultimately backed down and sighed at first before letting out a little smile. Asuma could tell his father really wanted to finish cleaning up, but he knew that stress that didn't have anything to do with baseball matters was the last thing his father needed. So the three left exited the office and got into Asuma's Mercedes S Class sedan.

"Where to tonight dad?" Asuma asked as he buckled his seatbelt. "Anywhere you want, it's on me."

"Nonsense Asuma," Hiruzen said. He got into the back seat and buckled up his seat belt, letting Kurenai sit up in the front. "I'll do anything you want tonight."

"Dad come on," Asuma said. He didn't feel like picking for his father tonight, he just wanted to go out and enjoy a meal. "Anywhere you want."

"Well the team's playing in the Water Country tonight, how about seafood?" Hiruzen proposed. "Does that sound good to you?"

"Tsuki's it is then," Asuma said. He started the car and began to pull out of the parking lot before his father startled him without any notice.

"Wait!" the old man shouted. "Put on the game before we go."

"Jeez Dad," Asuma said. He sighed in exasperation and turned on the radio. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Hiruzen did not respond, only sat in the back seat of the car as the words of play by play analysts Yamashiro Aoba and Shiranui Genma began to filter through the speakers form 77.0 KFAN radio station, the local sports news and commentary radio network that hosted the Flames game via broadcast.

"1-2 count on Chouji," Genma said. "And the pitch." There was a short, less then a second pause before Genma gave the news. "And he struck him out swinging."

"God damn he sucks," Hiruzen said. He slapped his leg in exasperation. "We should trade him.'

"Dad shut up," Asuma said. He continued to drive down the road. "Just listen to the game."

"So Haku has two strikeouts already to his credit in this game. The Flames will strand Rock Lee on base and Haku works himself out of some early trouble. Now we'll get to see the young phenom, right hander Uzumaki Naruto, come onto the mound and pitch against the Sharks. The score is 0-0".

Asuma looked over at his red eyed wife. Being that her position in the Flames director of scouting, he felt the need to remind his wife of the time when her favorite first time players were coming up. Asuma gave her a little smile. "You hear that hun, your boy's coming to the mound."

"Shut up," she said. She smiled and blushed a bit. "He's not my boy."

"He'll be your whipping boy if he fucks this up," Hiruzen stated. "Now shut up and lets listen to the damn game."

* * *

><p>"Good lucky rookie," Shikamaru said. He slapped Naruto's behind with his glove. "Now get on out there on put up some zeroes." Naruto didn't even look back at the right hander, he just hustled out of the dugout and out towards the pitchers mound.<p>

When he stood on the center of the infield for the first time, Naruto took one deep breath and then exhaled. Chouji was just stepping into the batters box, his old school catcher's mitt raised up so Naruto could see his face. He then bent down into the catcher's position and showed Naruto a sign for a fastball. Then he closed his mask and outstretched his arm, waiting for the pitch. Then Naruto began his motions.

First he slipped the ball into his glove, gripping the seams of the baseball in such a way that he'd be throwing a four seam fastball, holding the glove right up to his ear. He turned his side. Then he began to step, bringing his right knee in while bringing his glove up over his head and then bringing his left arm back, winding it up throughout the motion. Then he planted his knee down, his foot pointing straight at the strike zone and bringing his hips into the motion. Keeping low to the ground he felt his hips unwind to the point of no return, where his arm then came forward and he let up his back leg right as he released the baseball from his hands. Bursting out into the warm air and into Chouji's catcher's mitt with a loud thwack, which Chouji had no trouble catching. Under the catcher's mitt Naruto saw a small smile. He smiled back and then caught the ball as Chouji threw it back towards Naruto. After throwing fifteen of these warm up pitches, Naruto was lead off hitter of the Sharks proceeded to step into the batters box. It was a right handed batter.

Chouji gave Naruto the sign 1, 1. From a hunched over position he stopped rolling the baseball in his hands and then put it back in his glove. Fastball, outside, that was the pitch. He went through his motions again, stepping on the rubber before following through with his delivery and putting out a perfect 94 mile and hour fastball right into the glove of Chouji. Just slightly up in the zone, the lead-off man for the sharks swung and missed. Strike one.

Another sign came 1,2. This time he wanted a fastball inside. Despite the fact that in the tapes the lead off man had a short, slapping swing that tended to do best when balls went inside. Naruto gave a longer look then normal, forcing Chouji to give him the sign again. 1,2. Naruto thought about saying no, but then he remembered Shikamaru's words. Deciding that it was worth a shot to try what the best catcher in the game was telling him, Naruto wound up and threw another fastball inside. Thanks to his fastball's late movement, the batter only managed to foul it off into the netting behind the batter's box. Two strikes.

The third sign was 1,1. Another fastball outside, but this time low in the zone. Naruto agreed to that pitch and went back to throw. He felt like he could record a strikeout with the fastball in this situation, nibbling a bit at the zone and hoping to get a lucky call. Chouji seemed to agree, as his glove was placed towards the lower right hand corner of the strike zone. Naruto went through his windup and threw out a 96 mile and hour fast ball, but the ump didn't even flinch. Ball one instead of strike three. Naruto caught the ball back from Chouji and then began to roll it in his fingers again. He still had the advantage in the count, but not exactly what he wanted.

Fourth sign though was something Naruto could like. 4,1. Screwball inside. Now Naruto was finally going to show Chouji the screwball, and eagerly nodded to the statement. Naruto then went back into his windeup and began to throw the pitch. To Chouji and the batter, it looked as if a fastball was coming at first. But as he went through the windup, both noticed something different. As his right arm came forward, it twisted counter clockwise as it went through the motion. Twisting until the ball was released, Chouji watched in awe as the ball flew to the **left** as opposed to the right, the way a traditional curve ball would go in Naruto's direction, and it went righto the lower left corner of the zone. The leadoff batter, having never seen nor expected a screwball before, swung over the pitch as it sailed right into Chouji's outreaching glove. Strike three.

Naruto's first major league batter resulted in his first recorded strikeout. He didn't now the names of countless pitchers who made their major league debut with such a feat, but it made him smile. That smile soon faded as the second batter stepped into the box. Onto the next one.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen, Asuma, and Kurenai all sat around Tsuki's in one of the booths of the restaurant. They had just received some hot towels to wipe their faces with, as was customary of the establishment to have it's patrons wash their faces before eating. Meanwhile, over on the TV was the Flames game. A few customers looked on with the Sarutobi party, but only Hiruzen was truly focusing on the game. He was watching every single moment, every single movement of the game, trying to connect all the statistics and formulas of sabremetrics to his own know how of scouting and how players were playing. So far, he was not totally pleased with his team's play.<p>

"Kurenai," he said. A waitress returned with cups of tea, from which Hiruzen promptly sipped from. "Your boy, he looks good so far."

"Thank you Sarutobi-san," Kurenai said. Asuma gave her a little hug and a kiss on the cheek, which made her blush. "I knew he was a good find when I saw him throw that screwball."

"Well he sure knows how to use it," Asuma said. "It's the fifth inning and he's held up some zeroes, and already has six strikeouts." He looked closely at the menu to decide which sushi he wanted to eat. "Dad do you want any..."

"Yeah but we're getting shutout," Hiruzen pointed out, interrupting his son. Asuma sighed. There was his father, paying more attention to baseball then anything else going on around him.

He looked at the screen, which showed third baseman and three hole hitter Hyuga Neji up with two outs and a 1-2 count. Rock Lee had grounded into an inning ending double play, the first time it had happened for the potential rookie of the year center fielder. The game was still tied 0-0, and it was already the bottom of the fifth inning. They had only managed three hits so far, and Neji had one of them in the first inning. His second time up he had flew out to center field. This time, Neji would not get so lucky. The six year veteran who came into the league the same year Shikamaru did and had been awarded an eight year contract just two years ago for consistently providing a bat of average, power, and runs along with steady defense, faced a 1-2 slider looking from Haku. He struck out.

"God damn it," Sarutobi said. He slammed his fist on the table. "What the fuck are we paying this guy for?"

"Dad chill out it's still nothing nothing," he said. "It's the first time he's struck out in almost 20 plate appearances. I mean really it's no big deal."

"This is the Sharks here," Hiruzen said. "They have no good pitchers, and now we're making this Haku kid look like Bob Gibson."

Asuma rolled his eyes. His old man was baseball smart, but he was also a baseball fan. Like any passionate baseball fan, he had a habit of getting incensed when his team performed badly or his players did not play well. Clearly, the Flames, who were currently second in the Elemental League East division and were trying to keep up the good pace, every win mattered. This was not the time to under-perform, especially considering the divisional rival Otohagakure Vipers won a game against another divisional rival, the Kumohagakure Lightning, extending their divisional lead to two games over the Flames.

"Come on Dad," Asuma said. "Lets just eat and enjoy a good meal." The waitress came over and took there order, but Hiruzen refused to let his focus leave the game. Naruto was coming back up on the mound, and he was especially interested in the continued performance of his young phenom.

* * *

><p>As Naruto took the mound once again, he found himself stuck with having to go through the heart of the Sharks lineup again. So far this was the only part of the lineup to give him any real trouble. Two of the four hits came from batters within this part of the lineup, and he had walked three hole hitter Momochi Zabuza in the first inning. A fly out had got him out of that trouble, but he knew that he could not afford the same mistake. He looked on closely as Zabuza waved the bat steadily from his stance in the batter's box, awaiting the sign from Chouji.<p>

3-2. A changeup on the inside. Naruto gave a slight gawking look to Chouji, as if to say "What are you crazy?". An inside change up against someone who hits over .300 and can hit to both sides of the field with big power and is a consistent twenty to thirty homer, ninety RBI guy? If he took that chageup inside, he could easily belt it out into the ocean. Chouji gave the sign again, and though Naruto disagreed with the sign he felt like he should go along with Chouji for now. Maybe the catcher was onto something. So he put the glove up near his head and wrapped three fingers around the baseball. Going back through his windup and then releasing the ball, he let a perfect 80MPH changeup sail through the air, dip down slightly, and fall out of the strike zone. Ball one.

Chouji threw the ball back to Naruto and the right hander looked closely at the catcher. He felt stupid for listening to Chouji. He gave the count advantage to Zabuza and now he couldn't use his changeup again in the count without being extremely crafty. This time, despite the fact that Chouji was asking him for a low fastball, Naruto came instead his cutter in the spot Chouji wanted. It bounced in the dirt and Chouji had to fish around with his hands a bit to get the ball before he threw it back to Naruto. A 2-0 count with Zabuza having the advantage was not what either the young pitcher or the veteran catcher desired.

Naruto looked over at the dugout and saw Shikamaru mouth "Look at him". He sighed and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling and trying to calm himself down. He looked at Chouji again, this time deciding on just following Chouji's lead on what to do. He wanted 1-2. An inside fastball. Just to get a strike. Naruto nodded in agreement, figuring that Zaubza would not swing at the first pitch that would be directly in the strike zone. Moving the glove up to his head and then gripping the ball, Naruto wound up and threw the ball perfectly towards Chouji's glove. It would've went in for a called strike, if it wasn't for the fact that Zabuza was one of the most aggressive hitters in the league on a 2-0 count and connected perfectly with the 95MPH fastball to belt it into center field. Naruto looked on in awe as fellow rookie Rock Lee ran with his outstretched glove to where he thought the ball would fall, but it landed right in front of his feet and hopped over the wall. A ground rule double.

Now for the first time in the game, the Sharks had a runner in scoring position, and their run producing monster was coming to the plate. Hoshingake Kisame, what local sports writers had penned as being the the best RBI hitter in EBA history, and a player comparable to American players like Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. 30 Homers, 120 RBIs, that was no problem for this guy. Naruto swallowed slightly, trying to not let the fear of having to pitch to Kisame with a runner in scoring position get to him. He didn't know if he could. He just looked at Chouji carefully, who gave him the sign for a 1-2, a fastall on the inside. Naruto shook it off in his head, but gave Chouji a fastbally nonetheless. Too afraid to throw inside though, Naruto threw outside. With his arms extended, Kisame connected the bat with the 95mph fastball perfectly.

It was like watching a comet. After the massive "crack" that came with the bat hitting the fastball, the ball sailed not only out of the field but way out of the park and into the bay surrounding the stadium. The Kumo crowd cheered happily and jumped about in the stands. Naruto shook his head and put his cap over his eyes and cursed himself. They were now behind 2-0, and he was now going to be taken out of the game.

"What a start phenom," Naruto said to himself. "What a start."

* * *

><p>"That piece of shit," Hiruzen cursed. "Look at him! He's lost us the game."<p>

"There are four more innings left to play Dad," Asuma pointed out. "I mean he's making his first start for crying out loud."

"He's garbage I don't want to see him in our clubhouse again," Hiruzen said. Asuma rolled his eyes and watched his father eat some of the sushi that they had ordered. Then it all went down hill.

Hiruzen began hitting his chest, almost like he was trying to say something. His face turned white as a sheet. His breathing became extremely heavy. Sweat dripped down his forehead in fear. Asuma looked on in confusion in first, but then Kurenai shook him to know of the oncoming horror.

"The aspirin get him some of the aspirin I have!" she ordered. Asuma shook out of his confused trance and tried to rush over to the bag and grab some of the aspirin that his wife always carried around with her to deal with the daily aches and pains of work. He rummaged furiously through her purse, throwing everything out onto the floor as his father continued to breath heavily and beat his chest in agony. With growing numbers of restaurant patrons looking on at the developing incident, they watched as Kurenai and Asuma had found that she did not have her aspirin, and that there was no way to save his father's life in time.


End file.
